Entertainment

10:24 AM CST on Wednesday, February 1, 2006

By CHRIS VOGNAR / The Dallas Morning News

There were few surprises on the Oscar prairie Tuesday morning as the cowboy romance Brokeback Mountain led the Academy Awards field with eight nominations, including nods for best picture, director (Ang Lee), actor (Heath Ledger), supporting actor (Jake Gyllenhaal) and supporting actress (Michelle Williams).

Wichita Falls native Larry McMurtry was nominated for the film's adapted screenplay, which he co-wrote with Diana Ossana.

Joining Brokeback in the best picture field are Capote, Crash, Good Night, and Good Luck and Munich. The big snub was the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line, although Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon were both nominated in the lead acting categories.

It was a good morning for small and independent films. Only one of the best picture nominees, Munich, was a major Hollywood production. Capote, which chronicles Truman Capote's downward spiral during the writing of In Cold Blood, also scored nominations for best director (Bennett Miller), actor (Philip Seymour Hoffman), supporting actress (Catherine Keener) and adapted screenplay (Dan Futterman). Good Night, about the battle between Edward R. Murrow and Sen. Joseph McCarthy, got nods for best director (George Clooney, also nominated for best supporting actor for Syriana), original screenplay and actor (David Strathairn).

The modern L.A. racial study Crash earned nominations for best director and original screenplay (both Paul Haggis) and for best supporting actor (Matt Dillon).

The Oscars will be awarded March 5 in Hollywood.

E-mail cvognar@dallasnews.com